This is a difficult time of year for many folks. For some, it is a time of traumatic memories being stirred up. For others, it is a time when already intense grief deepens.

In my work, I bear witness to such pain. Thus, just this past week I sat with a young man who was injured in an IED blast during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I sat with a woman who witnessed her son’s suicide. I sat with the adult child of an alcoholic who regularly was drunk by noontime on Christmas Day.

I find myself resonating to the words of the Jackson Brown song The Rebel Jesus when he cautions that those who question why there are poor will “get the same as the Rebel Jesus.” As I ponder His birth, I fear we all have missed His message.

1 Response to On Christmas Memories

I do have lovely Christmas memories as well as some very un-lovely ones. I have learned to cherish the sweet memories such as drinking egg nog in front of the fire place with my mother while listening to tape recoded messages from my father who was stationed in Korea. Since I also know what it is like to have a sucky Christmas I have a special understanding of others for whom this is true and we band together to make it better.